Wake Me When It's Over
by longlostalbax
Summary: Tess, a survivor in the camp who is plagued by images of what walkers could be doing to her family is determined to not be frightened anymore and to learn to protect herself. No matter what. Daryl,to his suprise respects her for this.


**Copyright - None of this belongs to me, except Tess. All characters, plot from the series belongs to Robert Kirkman (I love you man) and amc. **

**So I couldn't get this idea out of my head and I love writing it. So much. So I thought I'd share it with you guys. Hopefully someone will read it and if I'm lucky, like it. I can't stop writing it!**

**Wake Me When Its Over **

_**Chapter One **_

Come gather 'round people  
>Wherever you roam<br>And admit that the waters  
>Around you have grown<br>And accept it that soon  
>You'll be drenched to the bone<br>If your time to youIs worth savin'  
>Then you better start swimmin'<br>Or you'll sink like a stone  
>For the times they are a-changin'.<p>

Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin'

_Dad -_  
><em>you once told me that the stars are the souls of our loved ones. That if I ever missed anyone just find a star and there's a chance it'll be them. If not you were sure they'd pass on the message. I always believed you, well I let myself, just because it brought some comfort. But now I know it isn't true. Those things can't have souls and the sky isn't littered with the stars it should be.<em>

_I love you_

_Tess_

This is how I talk to my loved ones now. I write them letters I know they'll never have the chance to read.

"You should do that in the RV." Someone snaps at me.

I jump at the husky drawl even though I know it comes from one of our resident red necks, Daryl Dixon stands across the fire, his eyes flickering and I quickly snap my notepad shut.

"Yeah, you're right." I nod and stand up. "Goodnight." I think that he must be on watch as he nods back at me. I walk briskly over to the RV, uneasy in the dark and turn back as I step inside, only then does Daryl walks away.

It's been three weeks since the last time I saw my family, I recall as I climb into the sleeping bag quietly. Three weeks I have been living in my nightmare.

* * *

><p>"I don't think you should go." My Mum looked up at me from the television with worried eyes.<p>

"Mum, this will pass, it'll just be another thing the media are dramatising. So a few thousand people are getting sick, I can't use that as an excuse to not go to classes. And besides Amy and her sister are on their way." I sit down on the couch and watch the news too.

"No, Tess." Now my Dad chimes in. "I think it's different this time, people are going insane or something. I actually heard from Elaine she saw somebody bite a chunk right out of somebody's arm this morning!"

"Elaine she just wants to make some gossip sound more interesting than it is?" I say grinning.

"Not the point Tess, this could get bad." My stomach clenches as I he says it because I know my Dad and there's a reason he's the one I go to when I need some help, he just knows things.

My thoughts are interrupted by my phone vibrating, it's Amy. "They're here." I say my goodbyes and promise to call the minute I get there.

"Remember, we're only an hour and a half away sweetheart okay?" This is what my Dad always says when I'm leaving to back to college.

"Thanks, Dad." I hug him tight and kiss his cheek then move on to my Mum to do the same.

"Tell Becca and Gracey I love them, okay?" I tell my Mum who nods. Becca is my sister and Grace my beautiful niece.

"I love you guys!" I shout as I pull my case to the car. Amy is sat in the car smiling away and waving at my parents.

"Andrea this is Tess. Tess this is my sister Andrea." Amy had been as kind as to offer for her and her sister to pick me up on their bonding road trip back to College. I thought it was kind anyway until she told me she'd need someone different to talk to after seven hours of her sister.

"Hey." Andrea smiled, I smiled back thinking how similar they looked. I had always been in awe of Amy, the ideal pretty girl with beautiful long blonde hair, so petite and delicate. I always felt inadequate next to her even though I was only 5,6 myself teamed with slight curves. "Hi. Thanks for this."

"No problem." She says but I can tell she doesn't mean it as she walks away from me to her side of the car making me feel instantly awkward. Wow. Tool.

I wave and blow kisses to my parents as we pull away, missing them already.

Me and Amy went to the same College in Atlanta, I studied English, she studied sports but we bonded over love of fantasy books. We caught up for a while but when I mentioned the weird illness that had dominated the news all day they said they hadn't heard much about it as they'd been listening to the an Ipod, I was relieved I didn't have to talk about it any longer. After an hour the car rolled to a stop after a loud bang.

"Crap!" Andrea shouted. She jumped from the car and we saw her lift up the bonnet through the billowing smoke and heard her shout yet again, "You have to be fucking kidding me!" We laughed quietly.

"So…" Amy said grinning as Andrea turned to her giving her a look I'd received all to often from my own sister. We'd been stood on the side of the road for an hour now.

"Not now Amy." Andrea sighed as she dialled her phone. "Just great… my phone isn't working. Could I use one of yours?" I gave her mine.

"What the hell. Yours isn't working either. Amy…" She was cut of by one of the hundreds of cars finally stopping to help us, it was a big old RV and a friendly looking older man stepped out.

"Having trouble ladies?"

"Noo, we're just peachy." Amy retorted.

"Don't be rude Amy." Andrea scolded "Is there any chance I could lend your phone?"

"I'd gladly let you borrow it but none of them are working. Either's the radio's, I'm thinking it's got something to do with this infection." My stomach dropped. My first thought was to phone my Dad, then remembered I couldn't and panicked.

"It's that bad?" I gasp.

"Oh, don't you worry I'm sure they'll have everything back up and running in no time. Last I heard they said to head to Atlanta. I'd be more than happy to take you girls, get you out of the cold."

We decided it was better than standing on the side of the road for god knows how long and it was where we were heading anyway. It was also starting to get dark.

As we sat in the RV, the man called Dale filled us in on what had been happening. Apparently it had spread rapidly and people started to panic, that explained there being so many cars, none of them willing to stop to help three damsels in distress. My heart was getting heavier and heavier as I thought about my family. Should I go back? How would I get back? Maybe they were on their way to Atlanta too by now. I prayed they were.

We ended up in a traffic jam and I finally realised how bad this really was as I looked around seeing cars of families, trunks filled with belongings, they looked like refugees. People were just sitting in the road and walking around, no clue what to do or what was going on. I empathised.

"I'm going seeing if they're out there somewhere." I say as I open the door. They knew who I meant as I hadn't shut up about them since we'd been informed of the situation.

"I don't think that's a good idea Tess. We don't know what's actually going on out there. They wouldn't want you in harms way." Andrea spoke the truth and I knew it.

I looked down at her, knowing the pain I felt was all over my face. "Just a few minutes either way. Please." I begged.

"I'll go with her." Dale offered. "If this starts moving we'll come straight back." He added pointing at the traffic. I nodded and smiled at the man.

I knew I looked like a crazy person weaving through the cars, searching for them, ducking down searching for them in every car. Maybe they'd be with neighbours? I saw children, scared and crying and parents with that look on their face that only other adults can detect. When they're trying to look brave for their kids but inside are just like their children, terrified, wanting their Mummies and Daddies.

I got more and more panicked as I wondered what the hell had been happening, what could be happening to my family. I had flashes of things biting chunks out of people, the people rapidly turning into my family.

"Dad!" I shouted, loosing control. "Mum!"

"Daddy!" I yelled as I looked into a truck.

"I'll be your Daddy darlin'" some man in it drawled but I just carried on to the surrounding cars.

"Grace!" I cried with despair pushing past some men who were starting to fight.

Someone grabbed my shoulder and I turned to see Dale pity in his eyes. "Come on Honey, this is doing no good."

I was crying and shaking as I turned to him going weak and hearing a buzzing which I realised was coming from the sky. Helicopters flying over us, I looked down to Dale just as a series of explosions started, they were bombinb Atlanta. That's when my legs gave out and poor Dale had to practically drag me back to the RV.

People were screaming now, others just stood in shock holding each other like Amy and Andrea were when we got to them. When it died down I realised some people were running down the road now realising their cars weren't going to get them anywhere. I remember thinking how stupid it was of them to be running towards a city we'd just seen be bombed, knowing it was filled with people. One man agreed with me. He was stood on his car a few down and shouting, I realised he was a police officer because of the car.

"Everybody we need to get away from the city. Forget about the refugee centre and follow me if you want a chance!" He kept repeating himself and the four of us looked at each other.

"I think that's the most sensible thing to do right now, let this calm down." Dale said quietly. "You're welcome to join me."

We did.

Most people ignored the police officer, some even laughed at him but a few of us followed and it kept growing. When we finally found to a place to wait it out there was us in the RV, the police officer and his wife and son, a few families, some strays and two Brothers who kept to their truck.

The first night we didn't sleep, a misfit group swapping the type of horror stories we'd only seen in films or read in books.

We soon realised the phones weren't going to come back on or the radios and as we swapped these stories it sunk in that this was deadly were on our own out here. The first time I heard someone describe one of those things and what they do I couldn't believe it, this was my nightmare. I had had actual nightmares about this kind of thing and now it was real. I cried, who wouldn't?

By the morning everything I'd ever known was gone and all the love and happiness got lost in my terror. A kind of unique terror which is constant for me now.

The police officer, I now knew was called Shane was talking to us all by the fire we'd built. Telling us we should think about setting up tents as this wa sa good place to be, out of the city but close enough to it for when help came. I laughed at that joining unwanted attention to myself.

"Help?" I said in a low voice. "You mean like the refugee camp they just bombed, which probably had people in it." I knew I should have just kept my mouth shut but I was on the edge of going insane whilst everybody else seemed so damn calm. I couldn't keep the images of my family away knowing that whatever they did they were damned. If they went to the refugee camp they'd be dead and if they'd stayed at home... from the stories I'd heard I was ashamed to say I'd rather they'd have been in the camp.

I wanted to go home, I nearly did.

"Tess, you have to be kidding! You heard their stories! Saw them bomb Atlanta I'm so sorry but all you can do now is pray… hope that they're safe." Amy convinced me that easily. Not because she's so good with words but because deep down I knew I couldn't have left here alone. I was terrified and ashamed of myself for it for being so weak.

* * *

><p>Now here I am three weeks later. Still terrified, dreading the first time I'd have to face one of things we had christened walkers or geeks as T-Dog liked to call them. T-Dog was one of the strays I'd mentioned, it was only later on I realised I too was a stray. No family. Alone.<p>

I stepped out of the RV and squinted at the sun, all the group was sat around the fire area which usually meant there was a meeting.

"Okay, now sleeping beauty's finally here, we can start." Shane, the police officer and now leader of our little group started. "Supplies. Glenn here has been doing a great job getting us what we need so far." I had a lot of respect for him. He was one of us strays. "But it's not enough. We need to send a group out there so we can get more food, more food less trips, right?"

"I have a bad feeling about this Shane." Glenn cut in his soft voice portraying his worry. Shane ignored him, I glared at him. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for Shane too but he is bossy as hell.

"The only way to do this, is for people to volunteer." The atmosphere changed in the group, nobody spoke for a while.

"I'm in." T-dog, a large black man who I was fond of already was the first.

"Hell, I'm burnin' to get at some of those ugly fucks." Merle spoke up next, luckily the kids were playing within seeing but not hearing distance with Carol.

"Me too." His Brother, Daryl said soon after.

"No way little Brother, you promised me some venison didn't ya?" Merle grinned. Daryl huffed but nodded. He had quickly taken up the role of feeding the camp with his hunting expertise. Good guy to have in a apocalypse huh?

I grinned at their exchange not seeing two rude obnoxious red necks, but just brothers. With a pang I remembered my sister and family, like I do every time I see families together here.

"I'll go." It comes out before I really have the chance to think about it. I went quickly from thinking of family to thinking how I have nothing to loose, to getting angry about how scared I always am. And they say the best way to get over a fear is to face it.

I know everyone is looking at me shocked. Especially Amy.

"No!" Dale says before Amy has the chance. "You can't handle yourself out there."

"Who can Dale?" I say back still angry from the pain of thinking about my family. "Who can honestly say they have more experience with these things than me? We're all new to this and if I want to survive I have to learn how."

I look round at everyone but it's Daryl's face that I stay on, rather than his usual scowl it's something different, softer, only slightly but it's different and I can't not stare.

"Okay. Thank you Tess. Anyone else?"

"Me." Andrea shifts forward, probably so she can't see Amy's face. Shane nods as Amy pulls her back and starts whispering to her in distress. This confuses me, in the three weeks that I've known Andrea she seems smart and this isn't smart.

"I'd like to help out aswell." Jacqui said. "Tess is right, we all need to be prepared." I didn't like that what I'd said was what could be making her volunteer, it made me uneasy.

Nobody else says a word. "Alright then. Thank you guys." He say's nothing else and I understand why. There are no words for this kind of situation. "You know I would go but somebody who can shoot has got to be here at camp."

There are murmurs of agreement around camp then everybody goes off to do their own things patting each of us volunteers on the back as they do.

"We'll go now while its early. Hopefully we can make it back to camp before tonight that way." Glenn says, that nervous tone still in his voice. "Let's get this over with." He says to himself as he walks away.

We're all stood ready to leave not long after that. Amy and Dale say their goodbyes to me, stuff you can imagine and so does everyone else with slightly less heart felt pleas for my return. But the one that surprises me is Daryl stepping towards me, long deadly knife extended. I jump back at look up at him with wide eyes and see the slightest hint of humour in his bright blue ones.

"My hunting knife. Everyone else has a weapon." He thrusts it towards me again this time he is carefully holding the blade, presenting the handle to me. "Gotta be fair odds right?"

I nod and lift my shaking hand to take it from him. I'd like to say I was shaking because of where I was going but I think I've been shaking for the past three weeks. "Thank you."

"Just bring it back." He says his usual harsh voice before he walks away.

Me, Andrea, Glenn, T-Dog, Jacqui and Merle are all walking towards the car in a line and my mind flashes to the slow motion shot in Armageddon when they're walking to the shuttle and I see us the same way in my head. For the first time in three weeks I laugh. Everyone looks at me like I'm crazy, and honestly…I think I am.

"I so feel like Ben Affleck right now." I say knowing nobody else will get my joke. I'm right they look worried for me.

"Hell if you think I'm being Bruce Willis!" Merle snaps.

Maybe he isn't so bad after all.

**Really hope you liked it. If you did review and I'll post more chapters, otherwise there wouldn't be any point cos nobody would be reading them…**

**High fives for all of you who can guess who offered to be Tess's "Daddy" haha !**

**longlostalbax**


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